Dancing Weirdly for the Sake of Justice
My first Substack post! Featuring an introduction, reflections on the new year, a snippet of a forthcoming Emorie Hush song, and a show to put in your calendar.
Welcome to my first Substack post! As this is a brand new platform for me, I’m sure the format and content will evolve, but the plan is for me to post monthly with some reflections on music, creativity, community, etc. as well as with news about my musical endeavors (especially my project Emorie Hush) and a little of what’s inspiring me in the moment. In this first post, you will find:
a brief introduction and a little more about my hopes for this Substack,
some musings on the new year and dancing weirdly for social change,
information about songs I’m releasing and shows I’m playing in early 2025, and
a few things (a book, a podcast, a movie, and an album) I’ve enjoyed recently.
Hi there!
In case you don’t know me, I’m Sarah Howell (she/they), a pastor/musician based in North Carolina. My full-time job is being the pastor of a quirky, progressive church in Winston-Salem, and I do music on the side. I’m a member of the house band for The Martha Bassett Show and occasionally play with other groups/artists; Emorie Hush is my solo-ish musical project. Besides church and music, I love dogs, books, biking, running, game nights, road trips, getting stamps in my National Parks passport, crafting (not well), spending time in the mountains of western North Carolina, listening to TV recap podcasts, making sourdough bagels, and seeing live local music whenever possible. I’ve always loved to write, but for the last many years I haven’t felt much inspiration to do any more writing than my preaching and other pastoral duties require. That’s starting to change, and I’ve found myself both writing more music and wanting to do more longer-form writing lately. At the same time, I’ve been performing and am about to release music under my stage name Emorie Hush, and I figured I ought to have some kind of newsletter but didn’t want to do something boring and admin-y. While this Substack will be where I share updates about my music, the bulk of it will be doing some deeper meaning-making around creativity, community, and change. I hope you’ll read and let me know what you think.
The Fool, Dancing Weirdly, & Social Change
On New Year's Eve, I did a single-card tarot pull and got The Fool. The first card in the major arcana, a symbol of new beginnings, it seemed kind of perfect for the last day of the year as I looked forward to 2025. The Fifth Spirit Tarot deck I often use depicts The Fool as a young person nonchalantly stepping off a cliff. Moving into a new year can feel like that, for better or worse.
2024 was for me a lot of things, and moving into it certainly felt like walking off a cliff. The year began with my spouse moving out as we began the formal process of ending our marriage after a decade-plus relationship. I was extremely burned out on ministry but didn’t know what to do about it. And I was wanting to focus more on music but was full of insecurities and anxieties.
I felt very much like I was stepping out into thin air with no idea what, if anything, would catch me. Thankfully, that new beginning opened itself up to me in the most beautiful and surprising ways over the last year, but only because I took the step of making some big, risky changes—pursuing divorce, taking spiritual renewal leave, going on tour with a band, and launching my solo music project.
I love Jessica Dore's book Tarot for Change, and in her chapter on The Fool, she talks about change as requiring us to break rules, and how dancing is a fool's task with the power to shake us out of stagnant systems. She relates an indigenous folk tale about people trapped in ice who must dance wildly until their body heat melts them to freedom. The ecstasy and foolishness of their dancing is their salvation.
Dore’s use of the metaphor of dance felt very timely for me—though I myself am a terrible dancer—because I am about to release “Dance It Out,” the first single under my new-ish musical project, Emorie Hush. Made in collaboration with guitarist and producer Russell Kelly, “Dance It Out” is an upbeat, synth-y pop tune whose lyrics carry a multi-layered message about stepping up to and directly facing conflict, whether in personal relationships or in matters of justice. It was written in May of 2020 and references the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements.
A social justice dance-pop song might sound strange, but if you think about it, music and dancing have always been part of movements—at least, ones worth being a part of. Art, creativity, embodiment, and expression are necessary in the fight for justice and in the relationship building required to win. And breaking rules of decorum are part of how we shed light on and start to change unjust systems.
In a latter chorus, “Dance It Out” references the fall of Jericho, a story from the book of Joshua where the Israelites march and blow horns around the Canaanite city for seven days until the walls crumble and victory is won. The image came to me instinctively as a perfect example of how collective movement—a kind of choreography—can not just signal values but make actual change.
This story has been used (and probably originated) as a nationalist myth, and as a pastor in a moment in history when Christian nationalism and Christian Zionism are more visible and deadly than ever, it would be irresponsible not to acknowledge that when referencing the fall of Jericho. But this story has for centuries held liberative resonance for Jewish communities, and it was claimed by enslaved Africans and continues to be held up by their descendants as a narrative that promises freedom. I lean on their wisdom, naming my position and privilege as I receive and pass along that vision of liberation.
I imagine the Israelites looked pretty foolish marching around the city walls. About The Fool, Jessica Dore writes, “Change at any level...requires two things: that we be courageous enough to dance weirdly...and that we be willing to feel whatever angst or uncertainty that brings.” In this political moment, there is a great deal of angst and uncertainty, and part of the work before us is discerning what is discomfort to be worked through and what is danger to be reckoned with.
I’ve observed in many contexts a tendency to conflate discomfort and danger in ways that reinforce an unjust status quo. So often, white folks and others in positions of relative privilege interpret their own discomfort as danger—while dismissing the very real danger marginalized groups feel, downgrading it to discomfort we demand they bear silently. Those of us with privilege need to build our tolerance of discomfort and uncertainty for the sake of solidarity and justice, and we need to believe marginalized people when they tell us they are in danger—and then take action.
While this is serious business, we don’t always have to be so serious in how we relate to ourselves, to one another, and to the problems facing us today. One thing danger and injustice will try to do is to steal joy, especially from those on the margins. To dance in the face of dehumanization might seem foolish—and it is!—but it is also a subversive form of resistance. With the enormity of the problems facing our country and world, not to mention the terrors of our own individual lives, a weird little dance seems as good a place as any to start.
“Dance It Out,” the debut single from Emorie Hush, coming 1/24
I am VERY excited to share that after a long process of producing, recording, and procrastinating, I’m about to release my first single as Emorie Hush. “Dance It Out,” featuring guitarist and producer Russell Kelly, comes out January 24, 2025! You can listen to a little snippet above to get a feel, and if you’re a Spotify or Apple Music user, you can pre-save it now. And yes, that’s a photo of me from my short-lived ballet/tap career in the 90s; half my hometown wore that costume at some point!
If you’ve read this far, you can be among the first to know that a second single, “Hollow Bones,” will be coming out just a few weeks after “Dance It Out”—on Valentine’s Day, to be exact! So stay tuned for that song, which is another collaboration with Russell Kelly. If you’d like more frequent updates on what’s happening with Emorie Hush than this Substack can provide, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
Come see me live in Winston-Salem in March
I’m looking forward to supporting indie-folk outfit Migrant Birds at their show at Gas Hill Drinking Room on Wednesday, March 5 @ 8:00 p.m. I’m extra excited about this show because I’m just coming off an online songwriting retreat that was very generative for me, so there will be some new songs on the set list! Get tickets now—advance ticket sales make a big difference to small, local acts.
Some Things I’ve Enjoyed Recently
PODCAST: Jess Klein’s Big Table - The amazing singer-songwriter (and my friend) Jess Klein hosts a bi-weekly conversation with artists and activists about the intersections between ancestors, art, and activism. I particularly enjoyed the recent interview with Erin McKeown and always find inspiration both personal and artistic in the podcast. Jess also has a great song called Big Table that’s available on Bandcamp as a benefit for World Central Kitchen.
MOVIE: Klaus - I know the holidays are behind us, but put this on your seasonal watch list for next year—or watch it now, because who doesn’t need a little cheer in January? Klaus is funny, charming, and genuinely moving without being saccharine. Set in a fictionalized version of Svalbard, Norway, it weaves a new Santa Claus origin story in with reflections on friendship, grief, purpose, and joy. This is going to be an annual Christmastime viewing for me.
ALBUM: Open Book’s Leaning In - I met Rick and Michele Gedney at the 2016 Writing a Song That Matters retreat with Dar Williams and immediately loved the music they made together as Open Book. When Rick died suddenly in 2023, Leaning In was in progress, and Michele released it in September 2023 with one of Rick’s last paintings on the cover. Their songwriting, harmonies, and organic sound is mesmerizing and the album is a beautiful legacy of Rick’s multiple talents and of his and Michele’s love. The song “January Knows” in particular is timely this month.
BOOK: Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary - I recently joined a book club and heard the members rave about Project Hail Mary, one of their reads from before I joined. I got a library copy and was instantly captivated by Weir’s writing (I’d read short stories of his but never a full book—yes, The Martian is on my list now), the creative structure of this story, and the genuinely funny, sweet, terrifying, and awe-inspiring things that happen. Also, wow, so much science so seamlessly woven in to the fiction!